Not All Heroes From Earth Are Bad [EN]: Chapter 244

Cartesia, the capital of the Karton Territory.

In the center of this city, which rivals any major metropolis, stands a colossal temple.

Originally, a temple is a place to enshrine a god and preach divine teachings.

Naturally, it should be more solemn than any other place.

“Ah, haa… Haa…”

“Aha ha ha! It’s a joyous day! Ah, liquor! Liquor! Aha ha ha! Liquor!”

Inside the temple’s grand hall.

In this place, called the chapel, people worshiped liquor and drugs instead of gods.

Moans echoed throughout the space.

Each exhale released a dizzying aroma that assaulted the nose.

Naked men and women mingled, washing each other’s bodies with liquor.

“Ah, this is grace…! Divine grace!””Haa… Grace, you say? What are you talking about?””Isn’t this soft skin the grace of God!”

A place where reverence was nowhere to be found.

This temple teetered on the edge of hedonism.

Showing how far humans could become greedy.

Showing how far they could become vile.

At the very edge of that hedonism.

“Cardinal, how do you like today’s party?”

On a platform at the front of the hall, overflowing with revelry.

A bald, middle-aged man with a belly like a mountain spoke.

His name was Ketel Tolson.

The lord of the Karton Territory.

“Of course. Thanks to the excellent lord, this old man lives so young, I think I can easily live another 50 years.”

An old man with half-glazed eyes laughed.

Cardinal Maurizio.

Both the lord and the cardinal were lying naked, surrounded by women who pressed close, serving liquor and food.

“Hahaha! What wouldn’t I do if the Cardinal is happy!? I always trust only the Cardinal!””Of course. Who in this Doismann Kingdom would dare defy my words? Lord, just trust and follow me as you have done so far.”

In fact, the Karton Territory, where this temple was located, was not a very large territory.

In the first place, so was their Doismann Kingdom.

A small land attached to the east of the Holy Empire of Gatrein.

A small country with a total population of less than 500,000.

The Karton Territory was just a small territory in such a Doismann Kingdom, a small country.

“All this is thanks to the Cardinal. I pledge my allegiance!”

The fact that Cartesia, the capital of such a small territory, had become the largest city in the Doismann Kingdom was all thanks to Cardinal Maurizio.

Cardinal Maurizio settled in this Cartesia 20 years ago.

The city, backed by the powerful authority of the Cardinal, rapidly grew in size.

About 10 years after the Cardinal arrived, Cartesia became the largest city in the Doismann Kingdom.

Since then, it continued to grow, and now, 20 years later, it has absorbed half the population of the Doismann Kingdom.

“By the way, the King is also displeasing. Not showing his face on such an auspicious day.””Leave him be. He’s just a puppet anyway.”

The King’s dignity had long been thrown to the ground and trampled upon.

Lord Ketel Tolson’s power far surpassed that of the King.

Wielding absolute power as the kingdom’s top authority.

All this was possible because of the powerful backing of the Cardinal.

Lord Ketel Tolson, well aware of this fact, always prostrated himself before Cardinal Maurizio.

“By the way, Cardinal. What about the engagement you mentioned last time…”

The lord spoke with a subtle voice.

The Cardinal immediately understood what he was trying to say.

“Of course, it must be with our Lord’s son! My granddaughter is still a young girl and spouts foolish things like love, but she will realize the reality soon enough.””Hahaha! As always, I will trust and wait only for the Cardinal!”

The Cardinal and the Lord exchanged sinister smiles, as if they had agreed beforehand.

A deal to pass on their vile bond to future generations.

Thus, our kingdom will last forever!

That’s what they thought.

Until the chapel door suddenly burst open.

Thud-!

The one who entered was an ordinary guard.

His forehead was glistening with sweat, as if he had run with all his might.

The guard took a deep breath and shouted.

“Something terrible has happened!!!”

“Aha ha ha! Liquor! Bring liquor!”

“Ahhh…”

The guard shouted with all his might, but to no avail.

Already steeped in drugs and liquor, no one paid attention to the guard’s cry.

The guard muttered with an ashen face.

“No… They’re coming…!””Ah, sorry. We’re already here.”

Startled by the voice behind him, he turned around.

A giant of a man who seemed a head taller.

He grinned and grabbed the guard’s head.

“Ah…”

In an instant, the world turned upside down.

The guard flew quickly across the air.

At the end of that flight were the Cardinal and the Lord, who were mixed together, drinking liquor.

***

“Sister. Is this the grand plan?”

“Why? Got a problem with it?”

“No, I don’t.”

“I’m doing it with a plan in mind. Just shut up and go in.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Immediately after safely entering Cartesia.

Choi Hyun-seok and Park Hyun-ah headed straight for the temple.

Finding the temple was not difficult.

All the carriages coming from outside were heading to the temple.

And it was so brightly lit around that it was impossible not to know.

“Who…”

“Get lost!”

Knocking away the paladin guarding the temple entrance in an instant.

The two heroes, having entered the interior, headed for the chapel where the music was heard.

The paladins and guards blocking the way in between couldn’t last even a few seconds before being knocked down.

The closer the music got, the stronger the unpleasant smell tickling the tip of his nose felt.

“You must escape!”

Arriving at the chapel, a guard was seen enthusiastically fulfilling his duty.

“A talent too good to be in this trash can.”

Choi Hyun-seok grabbed the guard’s head and threw him as he was.

The goal is the old man and the pot-bellied bald man who seem to be the owners of this land of wine and meat.

Thump-!

“Kyaaaa-!”

The flying soldier collided with the Cardinal and the Lord, tumbling together.

The women nearby screamed.

The banquet continues.

“Aha ha! The best! The best!””Here, look here too~ Ahhh!”

Choi Hyun-seok swallowed a hollow laugh as he watched the banquet continue, not stopping even as the Cardinal and the Lord fell.

“Haa… It’s really a party.”

How crazy do humans have to be to get to that point?

Some people even giggled as they watched the tumbling Cardinal.

“No!”

At that moment, Rachel suddenly stabbed Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes with her tiny hand.

“Ugh! Damn it!”

“Hero! Close your eyes quickly!””What the hell are you talking about all of a sudden!?””Th-th-the naked! No! Absolutely not! This is rated R!”

“Get lost!”

Choi Hyun-seok pushed Rachel away and threw her with all his might.

The target is still the Cardinal and the Lord, who are staggering and unable to come to their senses.

The flying Rachel instantly plunged into them.

“Kyaaak! Dirty! Dirty! Dirty!”

Rachel, buried between bodies covered in liquor and sweat, screamed.

It was then that Park Hyun-ah arrived.

Having dealt with the paladin and just arrived, she frowned and covered her nose.

“Damn it… What is this?”

“It’s a party.”

“Tsk, dirty bastards.””Huuuung! The hero! The hero dirtied me!””Why is she like that again?”

“Just leave her alone.”

He lightly ignored Rachel, who was walking over, sobbing.

It seemed like he had to finish the job quickly, or he would go crazy if he stayed here any longer.

“What should we do?”

“This is beyond redemption. We just have to burn it all down.”

Park Hyun-ah reached out her hand.

Whoosh-!

Blazing flames instantly engulfed the chapel.

Only then did the people realize that something was wrong and screamed.

“Kyaaaaa!”

“It’s hot! It’s hot! Save me-!””Hehehe, it’s hell! It’s heeeell!”

The end of hedonism was hell.

People running around, burning.

In the midst of that, intense divine power emanated from the corner of the chapel.

“He was still conscious, I see.”

In terms of the amount of divine power, it far exceeded the hero level.

It was probably a defensive magic used by the Cardinal.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“Okay.”

Choi Hyun-seok lightly kicked off the ground.

Thud-!

In an instant, Choi Hyun-seok, who had crossed the chapel and arrived in front of the barrier, stretched out his fist.

The barrier shattered in an instant.

The trembling Lord and Cardinal were visible.

“Y-you! Do you know who this person is and you’re doing this…!”

Lord Ketel, the pot-bellied bald man who still hadn’t come to his senses.

He couldn’t finish his words and died with his head exploding.

“You are…”

Cardinal Maurizio stared at Choi Hyun-seok with eyes widened as if they would pop out.

He seemed to know who Choi Hyun-seok was.

Choi Hyun-seok asked with a nonchalant expression.

“Aren’t you going to transform?””Transform? What are you talking about?””The other Cardinals turned into muscle monsters.””…I have not received His Holiness’s grace.”

“That’s good.”

The fact that he couldn’t become a muscle monster was good news.

If he couldn’t transform, he was just an old man with strong divine power.

If he could be captured and dragged away as he was, he could be interrogated for various information.

“Just take a nap for now.”

Even rotten, he was still a Cardinal.

Since his divine power was so great, he couldn’t just be taken along.

It was best to knock him out safely and then drag him away.

At that moment, Choi Hyun-seok paused.

‘Would it be okay?’

The act of hitting someone to knock them out is very dangerous.

There is a non-negligible possibility that they may never wake up or become disabled.

It’s a dangerous thing even for a physically strong young man.

He was worried about whether this feeble old man could withstand it.

“Well, I don’t know! Pray to God.”

He’s a devout believer, so maybe God will help him.

If something goes wrong, there’s nothing he can do.

Choi Hyun-seok, having roughly finished rationalizing, struck the Cardinal’s neck with his hand.

Thwack-!

Cardinal Maurizio’s head bent at a right angle and he fell down as he was.

“Okay! Success… Or not.”

When he checked, his heart wasn’t beating.

He tried to control his strength as much as possible, but he died.

“Uh…”

It was clear that this man had been abandoned by God.

“Hey! No time! Hurry up and come here!”

Park Hyun-ah’s urging voice was heard from behind.

Choi Hyun-seok’s eyes began to roll around.

“What are you doing!? It’ll be a pain if we get surrounded!”

“Sister!”

“What!?”

“This old man is dead! I just hit him once and this happened…””Just come here! Anyway, all Cardinals are under a ban, so you can’t get any information!””Ah, you should have told me that in advance.”

He thought he had just blown away an important informant, but it was impossible to get information from the target in the first place.

Choi Hyun-seok let out a sigh of relief and joined Park Hyun-ah.

“Let’s go!”

“Yes!”

Just before leaving, Choi Hyun-seok turned his head and glanced at the burning chapel.

Crackle, crack…! The scorching flames instantly turned the inside of the chapel to ashes.

The corpses were also completely burned, making it impossible to know their shape.

Only small embers remained in places, burning forlornly and emitting a pungent smoke.

“What are you doing?”

“Isn’t this mission success?”

Choi Hyun-seok raised his thumb.

Park Hyun-ah let out a burst of laughter as if she was dumbfounded.

“Stop talking nonsense and come here.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Following Park Hyun-ah, who was running ahead, Choi Hyun-seok thought.

Since when have I been able to laugh in the face of death?

Since when have I been able to kill people without a second thought?

Am I really a hero?

‘Well, fairy tales are just fairy tales. It’s different from reality.’

The heroes in the fairy tales he saw as a child were not like this.

They were always righteous and cool.

Of course, he knows that comparing fairy tales to reality is ridiculous.

‘Even so, isn’t this gap too big?’

The gap between reality and fairy tales.

Even if you defeat the evil demon king, world peace will not come.

Because the humans in reality were not as good as the people in fairy tales.

When the demon king dies, humans more evil than the demon king run rampant.

A trite love story of falling in love and marrying after rescuing the princess?

There’s no way that could happen.

There is only a princess desperately trying not to lose anything more, or a princess who has already lost everything and gone mad.

A world where everyone is happy?

The nature of human beings does not allow it.

After much thought, Choi Hyun-seok came to the following conclusion.

‘It’s this world that’s wrong.’

It’s an era where textbook heroes can’t survive.

A vile and dirty reality.

If you struggle to survive in a pile of shit, your body will be covered in shit before you know it.

So…

‘There are no bad heroes in the world.’

There are only crazy heroes who have adapted to survive in a crazy world.